Toyota pledged to learn from its mistakes in full-page advertisements that ran on Feb. 18 in four major U.S. newspapers amid anger over a massive vehicle recall.
The advert, titled "Our Commitment to Customers," ran in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today newspapers and was signed by Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer for Toyota USA.
"History shows that great companies learn from their mistakes. That's why all 172,000 people working for Toyota and our dealers are doing more than ever to make things right for our customers today and for the future," the notice said.
The move comes amid growing uproar over a worldwide safety recall of the company's cars that has prompted US lawmakers to schedule three separate congressional hearings.
On Feb. 18, the once-vaunted manufacturer suffered a new blow with news that it faced an additional US probe into complaints of steering problems with the Corolla, the world's best-selling car.
Toyota, which in 2008 dethroned General Motors as the world's biggest car maker, has pledged to fix more than eight million vehicles worldwide, more than its entire 2009 global sales, due to the safety problems involving faulty accelerator and brake systems.
"First, we are fixing the vehicles covered by our recent recalls," the company's advertisement said.
"Second, Toyota engineers have rigorously tested our solutions -- and we are confident that no problems exist with the electronics in our vehicles."
"Third, we're taking steps to ensure that we learn from this experience -- and operate in a more open and transparent way," it added.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
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